All things brand new have a smell — that new shoe smell, that new car smell, that new house smell. A true scent of freshness.

The smell of new paint welcomes people walking into the newly built Nagle-Duda Gymnastic and Spirit Squads Training Center. The facility was built in 2024 and officially opened its doors in early April.

With that, the Iowa Spirit Squad has became the first and only team in the country with a facility built just for them — a credit to their hard work, dedication, and importance to Hawkeye sports and the fanbase.

“I know it took 29 years, but the support that they give to the Spirit Squad is really amazing,” Spirit Squad coordinator and head cheerleading coach Gregg Niemiec said. “It’s hard sometimes because we’re not an NCAA sport, but they give us really good support in the academic end and the athletic trainer end. The fact that we get to travel and do lots of fun things, putting clothes on our back and shoes on our feet, so, yeah, the athletic department does a great job supporting us.”

The Spirit Squad is made up of cheerleaders, dancers, and a cast of Herkys. They appear at almost all Iowa sporting events — from football to basketball to volleyball — with the goal of bringing the utmost energy to every Hawkeye sporting event.

But it’s much more than showing up and chanting at the crowd. To learn all the routines is no easy task. The physical demands of the role can be challenging. To show up to every single game with high energy is mentally difficult.

“I’d kind of describe us as the face of the university,” third-year dancer Sky Molett said. “Not a lot of fans get the chance to have one-on-one connections with the athletes or the people who they’re there for. But we are what helps build the connections between the fans and the team.”

“I would call Spirit Squad the ultimate energy people,” third-year cheerleader Tyler Perry added. “We still just want to be super social people and want to get everybody going.”

On top of that, members of the Spirit Squad take time out of their personal days to attend to the community, whether that’s through fundraisers, hospital visits, or interacting with the families.

“They think sometimes it’s just a simple task of looking pretty or dressing up in a uniform, but we do a lot,” Molett said. “Whether it’s going to the Children’s Hospital, dancing at nationals, there’s so many different things. And so I think just that people don’t know how much we do, and it’s not our job. They don’t need to know that. But it’s our pride, and how much we do that, it makes it worth doing it.”

It’s the work behind the scenes that fulfills all that shows up under the bright lights. And in cheer and dance, there’s no brighter light than the spirit squad nationals.

The UCA and UDA College Nationals took place Jan. 17-19 at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. The two respective teams reached the semifinals for both the traditional routine, and the game day routine but they came up short of a finals appearance. Herky, on the other hand, finished ninth in the finals.

As in all sports, it’s extremely hard to reach the top of the mountain. Only one team leaves victorious. But the commitment to year-round work is what gives them a shot at being that one team.

“We do football and volleyball in the fall, and then it adds in men’s and women’s wrestling, women’s gymnastics, and men’s and women’s basketball as well,” third-year cheerleader Mia Baker said. “So, we kind of go all year round. And then in the mix, we were here practicing over winter break to go to nationals. So, nationals is super important to the Spirit Squad as a whole.”

That’s another portion of the dedication they all put in — sacrificing time back home with family to work on their craft during the summer and school breaks. But at the same time, the Spirit Squad is their second family.

“It’s like, you come into college not knowing anybody, and then in a matter of weeks you’re already like family,” Perry said. “You’re put in this situation where at a certain point, your lives depend on each other … You also have to work really hard so you get to see the best and the worst sides of people. It’s like making a family.”

And with every family comes great leaders, hence Niemiec, assistant cheerleading coach Avery Stahr, and dance coach Jenny Eustice — the faces that guide these young adults to success individually and as a unit.

Each coach brings their own coaching style, all unique to helping the evolution of not just the program but the students themselves.

“[Eustice] has expectations, and you have to follow them,” Molett said. “She pushes us to be better dancers every day. Even when I’m really tired, especially during the national season, I think having a coach that is willing to push you to your furthest potential is what gets you better and makes you a stronger athlete.”

“I would say Gregg and Avery are more on the laid back spectrum of the coaching,” Baker said. “They’re very big on culture and how we treat others and how we represent the university. So I would say that they focus a lot on character development while we’re here.”

For Niemiec, that’s what it’s all about — getting his student-athletes prepared for the real world. That’s why he’s been with the team for 30 years now.

“Watching people grow, seeing them go from high school athletes — cheerleaders and dancers — to when they leave four years later, being young adults,” Niemiec said. “Hopefully, they learn some real life lessons about how not everything is perfect, and not everything goes exactly the way you plan it to go.”

The Iowa Spirit Squad isn’t just a cheer and dance team. It’s a strong representation of the university, its sports, and its fanbase. And what better way for the university to extend its gratitude than to make history.

The only spirit squad in the country to walk into practice and smell that new paint every day.

“When you step back and look at the big picture of things, how special it is and how cool it is to be able to do what we’re able to do every single day, it’s something that a lot of people don’t get to experience,” Baker said. “Just the privilege of being able to be here is great.”